After a years-long exit from Google’s Wear OS operating system, Samsung is returning to the Google ecosystem with the Galaxy Watch 4. Still, the Google apps aren’t fully established on the Watch 4 yet – Google Assistant, for example, isn’t available (yet). Friday followed the promise that this will change; until then, Bixby is present.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 4
Samsung has had success for years with its Tizen platform, on which previous Galaxy watches were based. Quite unexpectedly, rumors appeared earlier this year that Samsung would switch to Wear OS, making Tizen a thing of the past. This has now become reality, and the first Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic watches with Wear OS 3 will be available in stores from 27 July. After setting, you will still be greeted by Samsung’s Bixby assistant for the time being.
With Wear OS, Google’s own operating system for smartwatches, you would expect Google’s digital Assistant to at least be present. However, Samsung does not seem to care about that expectation and is supplying the Watch 4 with Bixby for the time being, Samsung confirmed to 9to5Google. Future owners of the Galaxy Watch 4 did know that the coming of Google Assistant is on Samsung’s to-do list and that it is working with Google to bring more services to the Galaxy Watch 4 watches.
Problems with Google Pay
That the Google Assistant is on its way to Galaxy Watch 4 comes as no surprise. A tab is visible in the settings to select the desired digital assistant. For the time being, only Bixby can be selected, but that should change after an update. How Samsung will roll out the Assistant integration to its Galaxy Watch 4 watches are not yet known. Those using Google Pay will also have to wait for an update to the Google app.
Google Pay does not seem to work on the Galaxy Watch 4. After the installation of Pay, users are unable to set up the Google app. Here too, Samsung says to work closely with Google to bring the application to the Galaxy Watch 4 (Classic). Details about the rollout of an update that should fix the problems are also not given for Pay. That Google Pay is coming to the Watch 4 is certain. In a post on Google’s Wear OS support forum, the arrival of the Pay to the Galaxy Watch 4 series is outlined.
Wear OS and Samsung
For now, Samsung seems to be focusing on transferring the Samsung ecosystem from Tizen to Wear OS. For example, although the watches run on Wear OS, the installation process of the Galaxy Watch 4 is still via the Samsung Wearables app. In addition, Samsung seems to reserve certain hardware functions to Samsung phones. It is unknown to what extent Samsung plans to further open its watches to other Android phones.
